


Sleepless

by ScullyLovesQueequeg



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Complete, Ficlet, Gen, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-03 14:57:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScullyLovesQueequeg/pseuds/ScullyLovesQueequeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulder has trouble focusing and his partner is the reason why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleepless

She has removed her blazer, and exchanged it for the white lab coat, which makes her seem even smaller. Without the blazer, she looks vulnerable, and like a child. Even the goggles which sit snug on her head, seem a little too big. He is struck by how delicate her frame looks, poised over the electron microscope. Strands of hair are falling and obscuring her face, but when she lifts her head and brushes away the errant locks, Mulder locks eyes with her and finds himself inadvertently gazing at her. She is speaking, slightly unsure, because her eyes keep shifting to the floor, and her arms are crossed over her chest. He can’t make out the words because his mind is wandering—wondering really, if she knows that at this exact moment, and all the other moments they spend sitting in the car silently with the dark road stretching beyond infinity in front of them, that he has fallen in love with her.

"…the cell structure." She finishes, but when her eyes meet his, she frowns because his look is distant.

"Were you listening to me, Mulder?" She asks, her eyes blinking slowly to show that she is in disbelief.

"No," He admits, slowly, lowly, because in his mind, this is another intimate moment. A moment shared by two. "I was thinking about something."

She gives him a short, frustrated sigh. “I don’t even know why I try. Just look at the evidence.” She says, stepping aside to allow him to look at the microscope.

No, he concludes in his mind. She doesn’t know. This is a job to her, and through some twisted and cruel irony, it has become her life too, though she still fights with herself to embrace it. Not like him. The sleepless nights spent looking over his shoulder and dealing with codes and secrecy are second nature to him and he doesn’t mind it one bit. And why should he? It is his life by choice. It is one that he hopes to share with her but that dream is slowly shrinking into fantasy.

"What am I looking at?" Mulder asks, bringing his mind back to the case at hand. Another short sigh.

"The abnormal cell structure." Scully does not suffer fools gladly and Mulder’s actions are trying to her. She doesn’t understand that he is thinking of her again, silently praising her attention to detail, her professional demeanor, and her ability to think rationally.

"Okay, why is it abnormal?" He asks, stepping away from the microscope, and she gives a look that tells of her growing frustration. Mulder’s attention has been all over the place. Everything but the case, nothing but her.

"Because there is no mitochondria," She starts, and he finishes for her,

"The powerhouse of the cell."

"The only thing you probably did pay attention to in school." She adds, not unkindly. He gives her that, he chuckles and openly apologizes,

"I’m sorry. I’m tired, I didn’t sleep well last night." He says, the truth being that she is on his mind, even as he falls asleep. She smiles sympathetically, and reaches out to pat his shoulder.

"Go home, Mulder get some rest. We’re still so tired." Bitterly, he smiles. He’ll only lie awake in bed and think of all the ways that he ruined a good thing, possibly, the only good thing he has had in a long time. Things are different now, after the cornfield, after the cancer. Her skin is still red from some of the places they were exposed to the Antarctic cold. It wasn’t even that long ago.

"Okay." He does not argue. What is there to argue?


End file.
